NGA Submits Recommendations on Dept. of Education’s Draft ESSA Accountability Rules
July 19, 2016
The National Governors Association submitted their recommendations in response to the Dept. of Education’s draft accountability rules for ESSA. The NGA notes that the federal government potentially “overreaches” its authority by restricting state’s flexibility. Along with technical language fixes, their recommendations include:
- Providing “technical assistance” to state and local education agencies in developing best practices, and to develop easily readable report cards for families;
- Removing the Notice for Proposed Rule Making language that requires states to “provide evidence… that the State has adopted challenging academic content standards and aligned academic achievement standards” and maintaining ESSA’s broad accountability language;
- Solidifying state’s ability to design their own accountability standards and bar the Secretary from overruling their authority; and
- Allowing for an extended timeframe to identify student subgroup performance and how to address achievement gaps.
Overall, the NGA commends ESSA “for honoring ESSA’s congressional intent and the basic principles of federalism.”
Full recommendations can be viewed on the NGA Website.